Worth It
by bendecida82
Summary: epi 1:16 BLP alternate ending “Ask yourself if this thing with Lucas is really worth losing your best friend over” Haley helps Peyton work those some issues when she realizes the answer is yes


A/N: Ok, so I am attempting my first one shot. I was up until 5 this morning for some reason, unable to sleep, because this story was running around in my head. So about 3 am I gave in and wrote it and was able to sleep like a baby for 2 hours until my alarm went off. I probably couldnt sleep because I had just finished watching the BLP triangle arc of season 1, and this one point was really bothering me, so I fixed it (gotta love fanfic).

Anywho, this oneshot takes place during 1.16, after Peyton has broken up with Lucas (in the unaired scene). We pick up after Lucas stormed out of dinner with Haley and his mom. In this one-shot he did not sleep with Nicki, cause I always thought that was a little strange for a guy who waited 17 years to have sex to do it with a total stranger.

DIsclaimer: I own nothing. "" "" indicates quotes from the tv series, and are not mine.

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Worth It

"Ask yourself, if this thing with Lucas is really worth losing your best friend over"- paraphrased quote from Haley to Peyton about Lucas, season 1

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Haley made her way up to Peyton's room determined. She walked into the room and placed her hands on her hips. "What the hell are you doing?"

Peyton looked up from where she was drawing, and set the sketches on the table. "Hello to you too, Haley."

"I just learned from Lucas today, who is missing right now, by the way, that you aren't talking to him. What's that all about?" Haley said, coming further into the room.

"There's nothing to talk about." Peyton said simply. "We can't be together. We're done. End of story."

Haley threw up her arms in exasperation. "Well, now, that explains his short temper, because I'm sure you told him this too."

"Yeah." Peyton said, tapping her pencil against the sketchbook. "This morning, before school."

"Great. You know, when I told you something like this would happen, I meant that eventually Brooke would find out so you should come clean, not stop it all together!"

"What else was I supposed to do Haley? I didn't like the people we had to be to be together. It didn't feel right- sneaking around...lying...."

"It didn't feel right because it wasn't right!" Haley said, frustrated. "But it was the _way_ you did it, not _what_ you did that was the problem! So, now that Brooke knows, what's stopping you from finally being together the way it should be?"

Peyton snorted. "Everything."

"Nothing!" Haley protested. In response, Peyton turned her back on Haley, picking her sketches back up and returning to them, tuning her out. Regrouping, Haley began again.

"When Lucas was in the hospital, and we didn't know if he would wake up, do you remember what you told me?"

"I kinda told you a lot of things Haley." Peyton attempted to joke, trying to break the tension.

Haley didn't play along. "Now is so not the time, Peyton." She sat down on the bed. "You told me that you just wanted to tell him that you were in love with him."

Peyton looked away.

"Did you, Peyton?" Haley said forcefully. "Did you tell Lucas? Did you tell Brooke how you felt? Can you even admit it to yourself?"

"No, okay!" Peyton shouted, standing up from her desk. "No, I didn't. I couldn't." She hung her head. "Brooke…"

"Brooke would've been hurt." Haley stood up as well. "Well, news flash. Brooke is hurting _now_. Only now its not just Brooke. Lucas is hurting. You are hurting. And for what? Because you're scared to admit that you are in love with Lucas? Scared that he might actually love you back?"

"And where does that get me, huh?" Peyton lashed out. "I get with Lucas, I get my 'happily ever after;' all I have to do is screw over my _best_ friend to be with the boy I love, never mind that she loves him too!"

"Yes!" Haley fought back. "Yes, you get your happily ever after, and you be with the boy you love, so that your best friend can finally understand that you didn't betray her for a fling that didn't go anywhere and didnt mean anything. You prove to her that her heartache wasn't for nothing, and when you and Lucas _make_ it, maybe she'll come realize that she couldn't hold onto something that wasn't really there to begin with."

"Or maybe she won't." Peyton whispered, sinking down onto the bed.

Haley sat down next to her. "Or maybe she won't." She admitted. "But when you came to me before, when you and Lucas first started…doing… whatever it was you were doing," Haley waved her hand in the air, "I told you to ask yourself if what you had with Lucas was worth losing your best friend over." She looked Peyton in the eye. "And you know you made your choice when you continued to see him. Don't play the martyr now, because if you do, nobody wins."

"I just want my best friend back," Peyton said brokenly, leaning her head on Haley's shoulders.

"I know," Haley said, rubbing her shoulders briskly. "But you can't go back. All you can do is move forward, and make the best of a bad situation. And until Brooke has a change of heart, I have it on good authority that Lucas would make a pretty good best friend in the meantime."

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Not long after Haley left, the phone rang. Peyton placed her sketch down and picked up the phone, her heart skipping a beat when she saw it was Lucas.

""You okay?"" she said quietly into the phone, remembering what Haley had told her earlier. If she was being honest with herself, she was kind of expecting his call, especially after his run in with Dan. They _had _been pretty good friends to each other, before.

But it wasn't Lucas on the phone, it was Karen. ""Oh um, actually it's Karen. Lucas' mom.""

""Oh, hi."" She said, struggling to regroup.

Karen continued. ""I'm trying to track Lucas down. Obviously he's not answering his cell phone and I tried the number he had for Brooke but she's not answering either. Do you think maybe they're together?""

"" I don't really know."" Peyton said apologetically.

""I don't mean to sound like a dramatic mother but he did just get out of the hospital.""

"" No, yeah, um, I'll talk to her. See if she knows where he is."" Peyton said, wracking her brain for the places he might have gone.

""Thank you, Peyton."" Karen said gratefully.

"" Bye."" Peyton hung up the phone, staring at it for a moment before grabbing her coat and heading out.

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""Hey"" Peyton said quietly, taking note of the Massacre that was taking place on screen.

""What are you doing here?"" Brooke said, turning around to face Peyton.

""You're not answering your phone."" Peyton said, shoving her hands in her pockets.

""And apparently you're not getting the message. I don't want to talk to you. I can't believe you actually came over here."" Brooke said disgustedly.

""Lucas' mom called. She can't find him."" Peyton explained.

""Not my problem."" Brooke said, poking at her Chinese food.

""Okay fine. But if you can figure out where he might be, at least call his mom. See ya."" Peyton said, heading to the door. She hesitated, Haley's words echoing through her head.

"And to answer the question you asked me earlier today, at school? " Peyton took a deep breath. "I am. In love with him." She turned to look at Brooke. "I never would have risked our friendship for something that wasn't real." Peyton laughed ruefully. "But the jokes on me right? I break it off with him for you and now I don't have either one of you. So I guess it's what I deserve for going behind your back in the first place."

Peyton resumed walking, only to be pulled up by the sound of Brooke's voice.

""Wait.""

Peyton turned around, grateful. It wasnt forgiveness, but it was a start.

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She couldn't believe it. All of it, for nothing. She betrayed her best friend for a man who talked about wanting to be with her, only to turn around and leave from a bar with the first chick he ran into not even 24 hours later. Walking past the darkened storefronts, she was startled out of her angry musings to discover a storefront where the light still shown. It was Karen's Café, and if that weren't bad enough, the object of her thoughts was right in front of her, cleaning dishes of all things!

"What the hell are you doing, Lucas?" she said angrily, still reeling from the bartenders words.

"Washing dishes." He said calmly. "It helps me think."

"Well, can you _think_ about calling your mother? She's worried sick about you." Peyton said making her way to the counter.

Lucas turned to face her, leaning against the sink. "I already did." He said simply, looking at her.

"Oh." Peyton said, anger deflated. "Well then, good." She finished lamely.

He stood there, just looking at her. "What? She said self-consciously, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Just thinking." He said, shrugging. "Trying to figure out how we got here."

"Oh that's easy." Peyton began to tick off on her fingers. ""Boy dates girl, girl doesn't know what she wants, boy starts dating girl's best friend, girl ruins everything.""

"Girl didn't do it alone." Lucas said, stepping away from the counter and walking towards her, until the only thing separating them was the counter.

"Oh, I don't know. Girl was too afraid to tell boy how much she was in love with him. It's a pretty important thing to leave out." Peyton said, locking eyes with his.

"Oh I don't know." Lucas said, leaning over the counter. "Its never too late to say some things."

Peyton leaned in as if magnetized, lost in his blue eyes, before it all came rushing back to her. She sat up abruptly. "Well, it is after boy sleeps with some skank at a bar!"

"What?" Lucas said, confused, before the light came on. "You've been to the bar." He shook his head. "I didn't do anything with her, I swear. We just talked."

"You mean like we 'just talked'? Peyton said sarcastically.

"No, I mean we just talked, about right and wrong. And while I was talking to her, I was reminded that it's never too late to start doing what's right, and righting what's wrong."

He made his way around the countertop until he stood in front of Peyton. "And you know what I realized? If you and I don't end up together, then we hurt a lot of people for nothing. And I don't think that this thing between us is nothing. Do you?"

She shook her head.

"You know, I promised my mom on the phone earlier that I would do better. Be a man, own up to my mistakes. So since I already apologized to her, the next person on my list is you."

He leaned down until their faces were inches away. "I'm sorry I made you go behind your best friends back to be with me. I'm sorry I didn't break up with her as soon as I realized I wanted to be with you. I wont make that mistake again, if you can forgive me, and give me another chance."

A tear slipped down Peytons face as she laid a hand on the back of his neck. "I'm sorry it took me so long to realize that I wanted what you wanted. I'm sorry I never told you how very much in love with you I am."

Lucas grinned in sheer delight at finally hearing the words she had never said. "I love you too Peyton."

Their lips met in a simple kiss that quickly turned into something deeper. And as his arms crept around her back and her arms laced around his neck, she thought that maybe, just maybe, letting him go was also a wrong that needed to be righted.

And at that moment, however it played out with Brooke in the end, there was no longer any doubt in her mind that the answer to Haley's question was yes.

It was worth it.

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So I know that if this was how the show went, it would have been over first season cause there is no more drama, but it didnt make sense to me that Peyton was so messed up about almost losing Lucas before telling him how she felt, to never telling him at all. And that even after she lost her best friend, which she knew was a possibility when she first starting sneaking around, she decided to drop Lucas too. _And _she kept quiet about being in love with Lucas when Brooke asked her directly! If I were Brooke, Id be mad at her too, cause without seeing Peytons side of it, it just looks like she just liked the thrill of sneaking around.

Anywho. Tell me what you thing about my first one shot. Good, bad? Agree, disagree? Review!


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